I've always been a little intrigued by the concept of a "verified user." Ostensibly to ensure the true identity of the person behind a profile, it also serves as a validation of notability, social success or even celebrity. At this point in time, almost 6900 Google+ users have the checkmark. And while Google verifies users according to their own criteria, everyone above a certain number of followers is verified. As it happens, right now that certain number is about 588,000.

This is I believe a unique list: the top 100 people, ranked by follower count, that are at or below that line. In other words, the people who are just about to get on Google's verification radar. So it ranges from +Maria Popova, with roughly 588k followers, to +Matt Steiner, with about 39k.

It's an interesting group of people, predominantly photographers or other visual artists. Some of them are quite good. There's a broad swathe of nationalities represented. Interestingly, most of them are people I haven't seen on G+ before, although there are a few familiar faces. What unites them all is that they're all very close to earning their checkmarks.

As they get verified, people will fall out of this circle, so I expect to change often. So I'll reshare this circle periodically with the refreshed top 100 unchecked folks. I encourage you to reshare it too.